This wasn’t always the case.

I didn’t always have a great sense of humor, and it took a long time for me to look in the mirror and be able to laugh at myself, or laugh at all, for that matter.

This goes as far back as middle school. Back then, I was the kid who felt as if he didn’t have many friends. I was picked on quite a few times. This story isn’t any different from a lot of other kids, but it’s how I reacted to it that I now am most proud of.

In high school, there was this one kid. We’ll call him “Michael” because that’s his name. He picked on me a lot, mostly in front of other kids to elicit a reaction. It got to the point where I decided to ignore him, meaning not talking or reacting to anything he was saying.

After a while, what I saw was how much joy this brought, not only to me, but to everyone else because of how worked up he got over the fact I wasn’t talking to him. So I continued doing it, and did so for four years.

After seeing all the laughter and smiles on everyone’s faces, there was only one thing on my mind: I wanted more. If there is one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that laughter is like a drug. Once you get that first laugh out of someone, you need more.

Now, some seven years later, the best way I can describe how I feel is with this quote: “I’d much rather be joyful, on any given day, than just happy.” That was said by the wisest person in the world: Oprah.

And that is the key word in all of this: joy. For the longest time, I never felt like I really was happy. But it was then I realized happiness is overrated.

Since this realization came about, I’ve been making it a point to bring as much joy not only to my own life, but to the lives of my friends and family.

The same goes for strangers. If I can make a stranger laugh or smile, and bring some joy to his or her life, even if it’s only for a second, I feel as if I have accomplished something.

It wasn’t until I came to college that I felt even more joy than I felt ignoring that kid from my school.

Since coming to MSU, I have met people who have given me the quintessential college experience that I’ve always wanted from watching all those classic ‘70s and ‘80s college movies.

All that’s left for us to do is throw a toga party and have a panty raid.

They have become a part of my family, and I don’t like seeing any of them down, so if making fun of me or letting them take embarrassing pictures of me makes them laugh and brings them some joy, then I’m all for it. They’ve given me enough joy in the past two years that none of that matters.

When you’re going through a hard time in your life, it’s easy to feel sorry for yourself, but I believe you can only really drag yourself out of a rut if you are able to laugh about what made you sad in the first place.

And I know it’s cliché when I say laughter truly is the best medicine — but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Except for when you’re actually sick — it isn’t going to help when flu season comes around and I’m trying to make you laugh while you’re throwing up. Or maybe it will, and if that works, I will do my best impersonation of Patch Adams for you while you’re crouching by a toilet.

If there is one thing I want people to take from this column, it’s this: You can continue to try to be happy. I’m not saying people shouldn’t strive for happiness. But if you ask me, and Oprah too, we’ll both say we don’t even know what that means.

And maybe I will find out what happiness means. But for right now, I’d rather be joyful and bring joy to those around me. There is nothing better to me than seeing the feeling of pure joy on someone’s face.

So I can only hope this column will bring joy to someone.

If that’s the case, it will have brought some joy to me, too.

Michael Koury is a State News staff reporter and a journalism junior. Reach him at kourymic@msu.edu.